 |
| Saturday,
August 4, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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SC hits out at the corrupt Politics
of vendetta Better
never than late! |
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Financial
aid to students
More
kicks than coppers
PM and
his (non)performing ministers
Lengthening
shadow of sectarian violence
Soyabean
good for women Sea
yields effective drugs
|
SC hits out at the corrupt PUBLIC servants convicted of corruption charges are in for a hard time. They have to suffer the disability of the adverse judgement and be out of service until a higher court clears them of the crime. This is mandatory since it is the Supreme Court judgement delivered on Thursday. It has far-reaching implications and Punjab can claim a bit of credit since the original case belongs here. An officer of a nationalised bank was found guilty of accepting a bribe by the sessions court of Patiala and he wanted the conviction (the judicial finding of the validity of the charge) to be suspended so that he could rejoin his duties. The Punjab and Haryana High Court said no and thanks are due to the honourable Judges for their no-nonsense stand on corruption. Now the apex court has endorsed the view and expanded on it. The latest position is this. A public servant, loosely linked to government employees but covering a larger segment like Chief Ministers and his or her colleagues and public sector staff, will be hit by this ruling. Until now they could return to the chairs once they file a revision petition challenging the conviction. Not any more. The Supreme Court says so. It says that except in extraordinary cases, conviction in corruption cases should lead to the official being laid off from the post. He can rejoin once he is exonerated and claim back wages and consequential benefits. But as long he is not cleared of the charge of corruption by a higher court, he stands condemned as a convicted person and should be treated as such. This is not just a case involving a nameless bank official. It has larger and serious political implications. If convictions cannot be suspended, the first and the prominent sufferer will be Ms Jayalalithaa (the new spelling has been suggested by her astrologers). As a public servant the whole weight of the judgement will fall on her. Strangely enough, elected Ministers and Chief Ministers were declared public servants by the Supreme Court in a case involving her arch political rival, Mr M. Karunanidhi. At the time of the original judgement, it was music to her ears but now it must produce a jarring note. She has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and the charge is corruption. The sentence has been suspended by a Madras High Court but not her conviction. Hence she is covered by the latest Supreme Court judgement. The three public interest litigation cases challenging her appointment as Chief Minister is to come up for hearing in the first week of the next month. But the detailed judgement of Tuesday is clearly a trailer, a curtain raiser. |
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Politics of vendetta THE decision to launch a joint campaign by leaders of the main opposition parties in Haryana for the removal of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala is both laudable and laughable. It is laudable because a united opposition is an essential element of parliamentary democracy. It is laughable because the key players in the opposition are themselves guilty of having practised the politics of vendetta when they were in power. In a memorandum presented to Haryana Governor Babu Paramanand by a delegation of opposition members of the state assembly, led by Mr Bhajan Lal, the Chief Minister was accused of letting loose a reign of terror against political rivals and implicating former ministers in false cases of corruption. There is no smoke without fire, and the points raised in the memorandum might not entirely be a "figment of a frustrated opposition's imagination". Haryana has the dubious distinction of perfecting the politics of "aya Ram, gaya Ram" by the ruling party for staying in power. Mr Bhajan Lal was said to be the author of this unethical strategy which included facilitating, usually through unfair means, the entry of the opposition MLAs into the ruling party. Without meaning to hold a brief for the style of functioning of Mr Chautala it can be said without fear of contradiction that the politics of vendetta was first used by Mr Bansi Lal during the Emergency for settling scores with political rivals. Mr Bansi Lal as a politician has many qualities, but learning from his past mistakes is not one of them. As Chief Minister he seldom behaved differently than he did during the dark days of the Emergency. Mr Bhajan Lal may have been a shade less ruthless than his former Congress colleague Mr Bansi Lal in dealing with political rivals. Mr Bansi Lal's several terms as Chief Minister would be remembered for the abuse of the state machinery for silencing critics and Mr Bhajan Lal's for patronising corruption. Mr Chautala is an unhappy mix of both Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Bansi Lal. It is unlikely that the Governor would take any action on the complaint of the untied opposition. Mr Bhajan Lal's threat of meeting Union Home Minister L. K. Advani, and if he too cold-shoulders them, President K. R. Narayanan, is not likely to make Mr Chautala lose sleep. The better option would be for the leaders to hold a joint meeting of the main political parties and collectively resolve not to ever again patronise the politics of vendetta for settling scores. Such a course of action would be in the interest of every political party. Above all, it would be in the interest of Haryana. |
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Better never than late! CHANDIGARH could not have asked for more. Two of its illustrious sons have become the recipients of the prestigious Arjuna Award. But there is a fly in the ointment. For one of them, Milkha Singh, the honour has come some 40 years too late. It is rather insensitive on the part of the Sports Ministry to wake up after all these years and honour the 400-metre finalist at the Rome Olympics in 1960 along with Abhinav Bindra, the teen shooting sensation who had clinched the World Cup bronze this year. While one feels elated for Abhinav, who at 18 has become the youngest sportsman to bag the award (Sachin Tendulkar got it at 19), one also shares the sense of shock of Milkha Singh at this belated recognition. The "Flying Sikh" already has a Padma Shri, which is a higher award. But the Sports Ministry has its own style of functioning. Its explanation is that the award is for lifetime achievement. Milkha Singh is not the only one to catch the ministry's eye so late. Another Arjuna Award winner this year is the late K.D. Jadhav, a bronze medallist wrestler in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Surprises do not end there. In tennis, the award does not go to Zeeshan Ali or Nirupama Vaidyanathan, but Zeeshan's father Akhtar Ali. Curiously, the All-India Tennis Association had nominated him for the Dronacharya Award, but the Sports Ministry mandarins brought him into the Arjuna stream. For these wise men and women to justify the vending of belated honours, there are enough precedents. Three years ago, awards were given to former hockey players Harmik Singh (1972 Olympic team captain) and Surinder Singh Sodhi (member 1980 Olympic team). So there! The fact of the matter is that over the years, the number of awardees has been increasing while outstanding achievements on the field have been drying up. Whether it is hockey, football, athletics or boxing, there are very few performances of note. And yet, Arjuna and other awards are doled out with unfailing regularity. That undermines the achievements of genuine claimants. Moreover, international recognition is clubbed with the winning of a few national titles. So, if Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan have the Arjuna Award, so do Gaurav Natekar and Asif Ismail. While men of the stature of Milkha Singh do not care for such recognition of their outstanding brilliance, there are others who lobby aggressively for the awards. At stake is not just the honour, recognition and award money, but the fringe benefits that come with it. They can wangle jobs, increments, promotions, plots, houses, and concessional air and train tickets. That the personal benefits come at the cost of the diminishing lustre of the award is none of their concern. The unfortunate thing is that the selectors succumb to their guile. |
Financial aid to students Dissatisfaction with the low level of fees has been growing apace during recent years. For almost half a century, nobody did anything about it. And now when policymakers want to do something about it, there are all kinds of problems. The first one is that fees cannot be stepped up overnight. Had marginal changes been made every 2-3 years, it would have been easier to manage things today. Since that was not done, a kind of paralysis has overtaken the policymakers. Secondly, there is a conceptual flaw in the thinking of most people. They do not distinguish between fees at the undergraduate level and the postgraduate level. In the case of undergraduate students, a substantial number come from the less affluent sections of the population. Even in a state like West Bengal, even though a proposal to raise fees came from a CPM leader, the same could not be implemented. At the undergraduate level, a seat in a college is in lieu of a job. Students expect to get jobs when they pass out from college. The jobs, however, are scarce because our economic policies all these decades have been defective. Therefore, if students cannot be given jobs, they can at least be given the luxury of a low fee so that social discontent can be contained, so runs the current thinking. When it comes to the postgraduate level there is a distinct difference. By then, a student has proved two things, at least to himself. One, that he is intellectually capable of going on to the postgraduate level and, two, if he could complete his undergraduate study, he can, to some extent at least, find resources to support himself. What has dramatically changed the situation, however, is the growing privatisation of professional education. Whether it is medicine, engineering, business management, pharmacy, IT, electronics and half a dozen other courses, the chances of his getting a degree and then a well paid job, are fairly bright. IT in particular has had a boom time during recent years. Anyone who can perform well there has a bright future beckoning to him. Currently, therefore, these courses are a big draw. Even if it costs a good deal, students are prepared to opt for these courses which may not be exactly glamorous or popular. No wonder the Central Government has come forward with a new loan scheme. Its details are being worked out and would be made public within the next few weeks. What the new proposal would do is to take care of those students who would not hesitate to take a loan through the banking channel. But the question to ask is: who would take advantage of it? Evidently those who expect to get a job soon after they pass out. With their enhanced income, they would be able to pay back the loan within a few years. In brief, this scheme will take care of that substantial mass of students who are enrolled in the quick return-yielding courses. Such students will not mind taking out a loan. But students who want to do one of the social sciences or anyone of the languages will not take advantage of it. Their number is not so small and some of them are fairly capable. Some of the courses in education, law, librarianship and such other disciplines also belong to this category. If the economy is expanding, a few of them are likely to land jobs which will become available in course of time and pursue these courses in their spare time. But a large number of students would not be able to exercise this option if the fees were to be increased without the right kind and quantum of financial support. Fees can be increased and indeed should be. What the country has to do simultaneously is to provide for what is called student aid. Today it is presumed that since 20-30 per cent of the students will not be able to pay the enhanced fees, others who are in a position to do so are also not asked to do so. In other words, it is the speed of the slow walker which determines everyone else’s speed. What is required is a system wherein the fees are gradually stepped up. Since some of the students will not be able to pay, they can be given fee remissions according to different formulas. Some can be given full fee remission, others can be given half fee remission and still others quarter fee remission while some, in addition to the various grades of remission, are given support to maintain themselves. If a quick calculation could be done, we would find that while the situation will vary from state to state and town to town, about 40-50 per cent of the students would be able to pay a much higher rate of fee than they are currently asked to pay. Today’s passive approach to this problem leaves out even those who can pay; they simply are not asked to pay. Therefore, in addition to the provision for loans etc. which will help only a certain category of students, what is required is a substantial fund maintained by each university and college so as to help those who need help. A couple of precautions would be called for. One is that the whole operation should be transparent. Corruption is so widespread in our country that it is easier to talk of it critically in general terms than to actually ensure transparency of operations. The second point which requires to be made is that virtually half the membership of this committee should consist of students. They know one another. If a bogus claim is made by anyone, the rest would see through it at once. The experiment has been tried in a few institutions and it has worked. Therefore, it would be advisable to ensure that while the managing committee handling such funds consists of a reasonable proportion of teachers and students, the chairman may be drawn from the judicial background. What is more, the experience of administering the fund should be analysed every year and appropriate adjustments made. Who is to sponsor this fund? Evidently, the initiative will have to come from the government. But it would be a mistake to imagine that the public would not be interested in supporting it. One has to only look at the list of donors who contributed to the Gujarat Relief Fund to see that the capacity to donate is much wider today than it was, say, a decade ago. People are in a position to donate provided they are approached in the right way and the whole operation is transparent. It is time to re-examine the whole situation with an open mind. Any government paying a large initial corpus fund will soon discover that, in the end, it will have recovered more than it had invested. Only we have to go about it with a certain degree of alertness as well as commitment. Students would love to be involved in the whole operation. They would feel flattered that they are given a chance to play a role. Vice-Chancellors or Principals should be made the chief patrons with powers to intervene and stop any kind of wrongdoing. To wait for an all-India initiative is not going to work, however. Individual institutions should take the initiative and, within a year or two, we will have several success stories to narrate. It is important to recognise the distinction between a loan and financial aid. While the Centre is doing something in respect of the former, the latter is no less important. Indeed it is almost a precondition for enhancing the fees. Secondly, a large number of people would be prepared to support student aid funds provided these are managed competently and honestly. |
More kicks than
coppers Freelancing is like marriage: the ones outside it, yearn to get in while those inside are frustrated and may like to get out of the golden cage. There are valid and varied reasons though the put-on shows will not concede them because their ego begins to bleed. Well. It is “more kicks than coppers.” It is an alluring form of glamorous unemployment! I warn greenhorns that editors are hardboiled eggs. It boils down to: “the wages of pen is penuary.” So be wary and warned. Every novice physician or surgeon needs a new graveyard. Raw physicians or surgeons will like to prescribe an overdose of a lethal medicine to put me to eternal sleep, but the fact remains that, as in all other generalisations, the aforesaid too has a kernel of truth in it. It is true of aspiring freelance writers, too. They also need a new “graveyard” before arriving at the scene as the banality goes. He who has attempted to wield the pen, if honest, will agree that a writer remains a mere pen-pusher piling rejection slips of various kinds and hues. Some of these are courteous while others are curt. Editors are awefully busy. Though there is a “team” of them, (that’s why they call themselves “we”) yet, they do not have the time to scribble a few illegible lines to a writer(?) Hence, the printed little thing every contributor loves to hate. Let’s leave the “We’s.” After all they too had earned some rejection slips when they themselves were greenhorns. “Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi.” With my limited four-decade experience, I can vouch one thing: no greenhorn can win the editorial nod unless he has deposited a score of rejection slips in his writing bank. Obviously, my fixed deposit is
brimming with them. They remind me that no failure is final as success is never ending. So I go on. Besides, I have the tenacity of a pest. Editors on whom I inflict my “literary masterpieces” will bear me out. The word freelance comes from a freelance soldier who was not a “regular” in the army but was paid as and when he rendered services after which he was declared retired sans remuneration. The stars-in-the-eyes writer will do well to bear in mind the origin of the term. It will soften many blows. This is the fate of the freelance writer. When he is needed, he is sought after. Editors even write to him for contributions. When not, he is thrown on to the junkyard of the newspaper or magazine. Did not I tell you that editors are very professional? They neither give nor take a concession. What happens when the editor throws your masterpieces in the yawning wastepaper basket? Should you go to the seed? No. Hold on. Write another. Back it may creep like a loathesome cockroach but you must not let your “creativity” dry up. These professionals are also human beings! Dickens and Thackeray had struggled for long before achieving fame. So did I! Editors did not know what volcano of talent they are dealing and trifling with. Contribute feverishly to newspapers and magazines, start buying them in the fond hope of seeing your name in print. Never mind the long envelopes frequently knocking at your door. The fees are fitful. Some publications treat your writing as “unsolicited,” or a “gracious form of clerkship” but others do dole out, take heart, rewarding remuneration. Delays are unavoidable. In one case, my article was not used for about nine months. I wrote to the editor. He was decent enough to write back: It is “under consideration.” A few days later, it bounced back to me. “Consideration” was over. One regretted the rejection of my article, adding “why not try again?” I did. And got the polite rejection slip again. I had forgotten that the printed thing was like the pre-recorded message on the phone. |
PM and his (non)performing
ministers Who can blame the Prime Minister for wanting to resign? No matter what his government tries to do, it is attacked and, ironically, not so much by the Opposition but by his supposed friends and allies. They do this knowing that without him at the top the NDA government is unlikely to hold together since there is nobody else from the BJP who can be considered a credible leader. Yet, the attacks and carping come not just from political parties in the alliance but from the BJP’s very own “cultural organisation” the RSS. Their cultural programme is so vast, so varied, that there is almost no area of government functioning in which they do not consider themselves experts from culture (ban the making of films like Water) to economies (Swadeshi Jagran Manch) and of course religion (ban Muslims and Christians). They approve of almost nothing that Vajpayee has done as Prime Minister and the carping and criticism went so far at one point that Vajpayee is believed to have offered to resign earlier as well. The RSS backed down but only publicly. In private they rarely hesitate to let everyone know that they disapprove of men like Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha and approve strongly of men like L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. It is fitting that this time it is their more rabid Hindutva sister, the Shiv Sena, that should have been responsible for annoying the Prime Minister enough for him to offer his resignation. The Shiv Sena’s big boss, Bal Thackeray, was quick to apologise “the nation requires your leadership at this juncture,” but his party refused to attend an NDA meeting to discuss a code of conduct. Does this mean that it will not follow it and will continue with its generally ludicrous and unnecessary criticism? Who knows, what is clear is that the Prime Minister is surrounded by allies who wander around with knives out for him. Some of them are one-man parties who on account of the complexities of a coalition government, have been made ministers. Sadly, for Mr Vajpayee even the spoils of office fail to silence them. So not long ago at a gala Delhi event I ran into a minister who held forth on the “uselessness” of the government. It was weak, weak, weak so look how Jayalalitha managed to arrest two central government ministers. It had no direction so Jaswant Singh organises a summit with Pakistan without an agenda. As for the Prime Minister he seemed almost asleep during Cabinet meetings. A few days later it was another of Mr Vajpayee’s ministers who held forth in similar fashion. “We would not have talked to Pakistan at all if there had not been pressure from the Americans. What else should we expect when we have a Foreign-cum-Defence Minister who lies down when they tell him to sit.” Jaswant Singh is particularly targeted because of the belief in ministerial quarters that the Prime Minister listens only to him. After him comes Yashwant Sinha as a leading hate object. If you stop, though, and think about this what should strike you is the fact that these are two of our best ministers. Jaswant Singh will go down as one of the best Foreign Ministers we have ever had. He has supervised a change of direction in our foreign policy — necessary since the Cold War ended — and managed to do it without even the Congress becoming too hysterical. And, the Agra summit, when analysed with fairness was a success for India whether it produced a joint-declaration or not because at least a process of dialogue was started. Anybody who expected much more than that is clearly someone without even passing familiarity with the difficulties inherent to our relationship with Pakistan. Or some former bureaucrat or politician who continues to believe that next to God he knows the best. Yashwant Sinha has not been a brilliant Finance Minister but a competent one. He has tried to continue the process of economic reform despite the swadeshis and the socialists who infest the NDA and that is no small achievement. He has not moved fast enough or done enough to junk the irrelevant rules and procedures that cocoon all enterprise in India but he has not done half as badly as ministers who are rarely attacked by Mr Vajpayee’s critics. Let us take, for instance, Mr Advani. Even if we forget Kashmir and the North-East, Mr Advani comes out as a thoroughly ineffective Home Minister. One of our biggest problems, just to give you an example of things not done, is the police. It has been trained as colonial police force, there to suppress the aspirations of the people and not represent them. Police Commissions have produced reports — most of them gathering dust in the bowels of the Home Ministry — that recommend changes. Even if Mr Advani does not wish to pay attention to those he has at his service outstanding police officers like K.P.S. Gill and Kiran Bedi who would have willingly offered advice on how policing in India can be improved. Nothing has happened so far but it is interesting that Mr Vajpayee’s critics rarely mention Advani’s failures. Murli Manohar Joshi is another important minister who has done almost nothing other than bring a whiff of Hindutva into school textbooks. He has talked for a very long time about the need to privatise higher education in an attempt to save if from complete ruin. There are no signs that this is beginning to happen so once fine colleges are now so desperately poor that they cannot afford even the tools of modern education. There will be resistance to change, of course, but if Mr Joshi could offer a plan that would continue to protect poor students from high fees it will undoubtedly lessen. The American model is worth considering because although college fees are high the colleges are rich enough for more than sixty per cent of American students to receive aid of one kind or another depending on their financial circumstances. Here, we insist that fees remain low supposedly in the interests of the poor, but higher education is now of such an appalling quality that even middle class Indians prefer to send their children abroad at enormous cost to themselves. Meanwhile, Mr Joshi concerns himself with the perpetuation of what he considers ancient Hindu culture. There are other ministers in Mr Vajpayee’s Cabinet — those in charge of infrastructure for instance — who have performed poorly or not at all. Do you ever hear of them being targeted? So if the Prime Minister finally got fed up enough to threaten to resign it really is understandable. Can we also not hope that he takes stern action not just against his critics but against non-performing ministers? Otherwise, he is likely to have problems infinitely more serious than a few unkind comments to deal with. |
Lengthening shadow of sectarian
violence In Pakistan sectarian violence is taking a heavy toll and the military dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is unable to control it. Look at the facts. A senior Defence Ministry official, Mr Zafar Hussein Zaidi, was gunned down in broad daylight as he was leaving his office in a high security area. Just a week earlier, the Managing Director of Pakistan State Oil, Mr Shaukat Mirza, fell to the assassin’s bullets. This has sent shock waves. Karachi is the most unsafe place in Pakistan today. The police has as yet no clue to the earlier murder of a prayer leader, Mr Rizwan Zaidi, in Lahore. What Pakistan happily exports — terrorism — to Kashmir is now affecting life back home. But these killings are not confined to Karachi or Lahore. These are spread all across the country where drug smuggling and gun-running are a roaring business. Some $2 billion per year. And as The Nation reported, over 700 doctors have been eliminated during the past few years. The killing of other innocent people and the appalling condition of the Afghan refugees in camps is no one’s business. Here is what a mass circulated newspaper said in an editorial on August 1: “It is obvious from the government’s past policy statements that it is aware of all aspects of the issue. For instance, the deweaponisation programme was largely meant to defame the organisations that practise ethnic violence, and the move to amend the anti-terrorist law, making it an offence for madrasas to impart military training was also seen as a way of containing the activities of fanatic groups. The deweaponisation drive has ground to a halt after the initial amnesty period, with only a third of the arms surrendered during the amnesty being recovered in the second phase. It is estimated that 90 per cent of illegal weapons still remain unrecovered, which essentially means that the sectarian groups are still in battle gear. Even the earlier hard-line taken by the government regarding legal and disciplinary measures against such organisations has not progressed beyond initial statements. “The sectarian terrorists have learnt that the Interior Minister’s tough talk is nothing to be scared of. Had the government stayed on course and the administration shown efficiency in apprehending the criminals, the situation could have been arrested and the killings brought under control. Since that has not happened, it has led to a public perception that there is a huge gap between government policy, which is in tune with the problem, and its political will, which is not. Until the gap is bridged, sectarian harmony and business activity in the entire country are going to remain hostage to events. That would be the ultimate cost of looking the other way on the sectarian issue in Karachi. The government needs to consider whether it can achieve economic revival when its final hub, industrial powerhouse and the only port are in the grip of sectarian terror.’’ In the same way, Dawn said in strong words that the government had utterly failed to meet the challenge of the terrorist violence. It made some revelations too when it pointed that the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has taken the responsibility for the two major killings in Karachi this week. A regular Press release was issued by two leaders of the group claiming responsibility for the killing of two Shia officers. In Dawn’s own words, “The Lashkar’s owning up the responsibility for the Karachi assassinations is a big challenge to the administration. The claim was made in a joint Press statement issued by the Lashkar’s Riaz Basra, and its divisional chief, Lal Mohammad. The Press release made it clear the Lashkar disapproved of Haq Nawaz’s hanging in February this year, and said that the death sentence was carried out to “please a neighbouring country”. The Lashkar’s statement is reflective of the philosophy that governs it.’’ Clearly, the chickens have come home to roost. The leaders of the Pakistani establishment, who are happy exporting terrorism to India, have now to confront a sinister issue back home. But why should they care so long as the heat is on others? |
A
meeting of local Jains was held this morning under the presidentship of Mr Mohan Lal Jain. A number of resolutions were passed, emphatically protesting against the decision of the Agent to the Governor-General in the Palitana dispute and requesting His Excellency the Viceroy to intervene to safeguard the interests of the Jain community. Another resolution offered its support to the firm of Anandji Kalyanji in their efforts to stop pilgrimage to the hills in the interest of the community. In accordance with the firm's decision, the Jain community of Amritsar is observing hartal today as a mark of protest against the Agent's award. |
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Soyabean good for women Soyabean can be the ultimate health “supplement” for women, says a leading nutrition expert. “Asian women with a traditionally soya protein rich diet have a relatively low incidence of reproductive and hormone-related disorders, including osteoporosis, and breast cancer,” Susan Potter, chief of the nutritional sciences division of the U.S.-based Du Pont Protein Technologies, said at a seminar in New Delhi. Such women were less likely to develop coronary heart diseases and menopausal complications than their American and European counterparts, she said. “Soya as a source of protein to bring down heart disease, cancer and bone disease is generating increasing interest with a significant rise in women seeking non-medical treatment for chronic ailments,” Potter pointed out. Studies have pointed that soya protein reduces blood pressure in women. Scientists have pointed out that Asian women risk increased “female” disorders when they move to the USA and Europe and switch to low-soya diets.
IANS Sea yields effective drugs Drugs that might be effective against diabetes, diarrhoea, high cholesterol and anxiety have emerged from the research on flora and fauna found under the sea. Three patents have already been filed and a survey for Benthos has been undertaken in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian sea. The research was undertaken under the National Programme on Drugs from Sea initiated in 1991. Several of the samples exhibited mild to strong therapeutic activity like anti-diabetic, anti-diahorreal, anti-hyperlipidaemic through various fractions derived from under sea plants and animals. Toxicity studies of anti-diabetic and anti-diarrhea preparations have been initiated on monkeys after finding rodent toxicity safe.
UNI |
If a fool happens to acquire something of value, he will behave like a drunken lunatic. ***** Friendship among fools is particularly sweet, for there is not the slightest pain when they part.
***** A fool's stepping into a saintly council is like entering a clean bed with filthy feet. — Tirukural,
831-34, 836-40
***** The more you desire the emptier you will feel; and the emptier you feel the more you will desire.
***** Failure means delay not defeat.
***** Be the candle or be the mirror that reflects it.
***** Money comes and goes but morality comes and grows
***** Defeat is nothing but the next step to something better
***** Patience comes from a peaceful mind.
***** What really is a human being. Is not it a being in a human form?
***** Let us live and let live; let us be who we are and allow others to be who they are. — From Purity, Vol. XIII,
no. 12, September 1994
***** Though the wave of words is forever upon us, yet our depth is for ever silent.
***** You owe more than gold to him who serves you. Give him of your heart or serve him.
***** If you sing of beauty though alone in the heart of the desert you will have an audience.
***** Even the most winged spirit cannot escape physical necessity. — Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam |
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